The Dow regained about a third of its loss from Wednesday, when it fell 111 points, its biggest drop in more than a month, following weak reports on hiring and service industries.

"Investors have been looking for a reason to sell, given the rally we've seen in the market in the past couple of months," said Joseph Tanious at JPMorgan Funds. "Today, you're seeing investors come back into the market and buy on the dip."

Among stocks making big moves, electronics retailer Best Buy jumped $3.48, or 16%, to $25.13 after saying it would collaborate with the Korean smartphone and tablet maker Samsung to open kiosks in its stores.

There was more discouraging economic news Thursday. The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid rose to a four-month high of 385,000 last week, the Labor Department said.

The government's monthly employment report is due out Friday, which will include how many jobs were created and the unemployment rate in March. The rate was 7.7% in February and jobs gains have averaged more than 200,000 a month the past four months.

So-called defensive industries, such as health care, consumer staples and utilities, which have stable earnings and dividends, have led the market rally this year. Investors have been seeking out stocks that give them similar characteristics to debt investments after a powerful rally in bonds over the last year pushed yields sharply lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note has traded below 2% for nearly all of the last year.

The 10-year yield fell to 1.76% Thursday from 1.81% a day earlier. It went as low as 1.76%, its lowest level of the year.

Investors are also keeping an eye on North Korea's continuing military posturing. And central banks in Japan, Europe and Great Britain held policy-making sessions Thursday. In Japan, policymakers unleashed an unparalleled effort to jump-start the economy's long-standing subpar growth. And in Europe and England, the central banks held record interest rates unchanged in an effort to boost the debt-plagued eurozone economies.

U.S. stocks sank Wednesday on the heels of disappointing hiring and service sector growth reports. The Dow dropped 0.76% to 14,550.35. The S&P 500 index fell 1.05% to 1,553.69. The tech-laden Nasdaq composite index lost 1.11% to to 3,218.60.

In world markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 2.2% to close at 12,634.54 as the country's central bank agreed to purchase more government bonds to stimulate the economy.

Meanwhile, other benchmarks in Asia fell. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1% to 2,225.29. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed down 0.1% to 22,337.49. South Korea's Kospi fell 1.2% to 1,959.45, with tension between North Korea and the U.S. rattling the local market.

However, Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said the weak economic reports out of the U.S. weighed more heavily on regional stock markets than the fracas brewing in the Korean Peninsula.

"Unless it escalates, I don't think it has too much of an impact," Shamu said, according to the The Associated Press. "We'll have to see how the situation develops."

Early Thursday, North Korea warned that its military has been cleared to attack the U.S. Washington said it was working to defuse the situation.

In energy markets, benchmark oil for May delivery fell $1.22 to $93.23 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $2.74 to close at $94.45 a barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday.